As much as we’d like for our clients to just naturally know how to pose for a photograph, we have to be realistic; it’s never going to happen. Part of the portrait photographers job, in fact, is to be able to tell their subjects how to pose and present themselves in front of the camera and, just like our subjects, we’re not always the best at posing, either. Fortunately, supermodel Coco Rocha (aka “The Queen of Pose” ) has teamed up with iconic photographer, Steven Sebring, to publish the super useful book Study Of Pose. [Read more...]

Proving once again that photographers really are a caring and inspiring niche of humans, a group of NYC photographers have partnered up with 20 disabled women to work on a really c photography project. The Raw Beauty Project aims to empower the women and break down many of the public’s stereotypes through . The idea behind the project is simple, each portrait should be based on three simple words: beauty, sensuality, and empowerment. Though those words seems like likely candidates for just about any portrait session, they are not three words the majority of the world automatically apply to people with disabilities. It is precisely this kind of thinking that Raw Beauty is changing, one portrait session at a time.

While the models are most definitely the stars of the exhibition, the roster of photographers involved in the project is impressive. Browsing through their resumes you stumble upon many notable clients like Vogue, Levi’s, Sports Illustrated, former employees of Annie Liebovitz, even a Pulitzer prize winner.[Read more...]

Tyler Stableford, a Colorado based fine art photographer, recently spent several months traveling through the United States working in collaboration with Canon on a portrait project titled The Farmers. In the seven minute long, Canon produced video, below, you’re invited to follow Stableford as he takes you behind the scenes of on one of his photoshoots, offering his insights and wisdom on how he goes about taking powerful and artistic portraits of real world subjects.

“Even if we’re in a beautiful area, a person’s face is so important to me, I’m always thinking ‘How shallow can I bring this depth of field,’ because I want the viewer to connect immediately and intimately to the subject and the subject’s face and eyes.”

Usually we try and look our best when we get our portraits taken, but how can one look good while being stunned with a taser seconds before the shutter snaps? Photographer Patrick Hall worked his charms to get volunteers to have their portraits taken just like that. After being stunned. With 300,00 Volts. By a significant other.

While the portraits are interesting as whole, the experience is worth noting as well. Patrick shares:

Building on last weeks April fools joke, where I riffed on the absurd idea that women actually prefer to look awful in photos and the current anti-Photoshop and no-makeup selfie trend making the rounds on social media – in this week’s article, I am going to share how to use proper lighting, posing and the right lens to make women look gorgeous without Photoshop, and then how I touch up portraits in Photoshop.

But first, we need a before and after (complete with cheesy internet meme).

Yes, this is the same woman…read on to find out how I went from before to after.

In my previous post I walked through the concept and shoot of my portrait of Mairi. At this point all I’ve got are a bunch of RAW (and jpg) files of the shoot. I know that I forgot to mention it in the last post, but for goodness sake if you can shoot RAW – do it. (It saved my butt with this image, as you’ll see below).

Also, you’ll be able to download my RAW file, and JPG output from RawTherapee below.

This is a long post.Seriously, this is the longest post I’ve ever written.I’m walking through many of the things I had previously written tutorials for, and apply them to a process this time so you can see them as part of a workflow.So, here’s a Table of Contents so you can jump to the section you need: [Read more...]

As promised, I thought it might be fun/helpful to walk through a portrait shooting session from start to finish using only Free/Open Source Software (F/OSS). This is my personal workflow, and hopefully I can do the subject some justice.

A Model Idiot.

I’m going to walk through the creation of a portrait of my friend Mairi that I did not too long ago. I had been wanting to shoot with Mairi for a while, and only recently got a chance to sit down and actually do it quickly. For reference, here is one of the final results that I’ll be walking through the process for: [Read more...]

I love using collapsible backdrops on location as they give me some freedom with regards to choosing a background. While I prefer working with existing walls / plants / fences to crate appealing backgrounds, this is not always possible. And this is where the collapsible comes in handy. [Read more...]

I had the honor and the pleasure to give a talk at my daughter’s kindergarten on Friday. We recently moved to a new place and once the kindergarten teacher heard I was a photographer, she asked me to come down and talk a bit with the kids about what I do.

Of course I said yes. I also offered to take some portraits of the kids and stuff – just for funzees. I asked the teacher to tell the kids to bring a favorite toy or set of clothes. It was amazing to hear what 5 year-olds think about photography and I am going to share some of this discussion here.

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Allen Mowery is a commercial and lifestyle photographer, pseudo-philosopher, and wannabe documentarian killing time amidst the rolling hills of Central Pennsylvania. When not shooting client work or chasing overgrown wildlife from his yard, he loves to capture the stories of the people and culture around him. You can check out his work on his website or follow along on Facebook, Twitter (@allenmowery), and 500px.

JP Danko is a commercial photographer based in Toronto, Canada. JP
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.

Laya Gerlock is a Portrait and Product photographer based in the Philippines. His passion is teaching and sharing his knowledge in Photograpy and has been doing this for 6 years. You can follow his work on his web page, follow him on Flickr and if you happen to come by Cubao, Quezon City (To Manila, Philippines) he gives a great workshop!

Maaz Khan started off teaching himself photography with a disposable Kodak camera he got for his 7th birthday. His main weapons of choice are now the 5D Mark II, and an LG G2 when mobility calls.

Stefan Kohler is a conceptual photographer, specialized in mixing science, technology and photography. He is one of the founders of Kamerakind, based in Traunstein, Southern Germany. You can follow him on Facebook or on 500px.com

Tiffany Mueller is a photographer based in Hawi, Hawaii. You can follow her Twitter here and her personal life here.